Eastern Tiger Salamander. Photo Credit: Sean Graham
MONTGOMERY-You don’t need to travel to Asia, Disney World’s Animal Kingdom, or your local zoo to find tigers traveling across the savanna to the local watering hole. You can do that November through February in Alabama. Of course, we are not talking about the iconic mammalian carnivore, but a rarely seen carnivorous salamander named for its bars and spots reminiscent of a tiger. Tiger salamanders (Ambystoma tigrinum) can be found on a warm, rainy, winter night as they plod along determined to reach their breeding pond, to which they are highly loyal.
Differing from other Ambystomid or “mole” salamanders in Alabama which require forests, tiger salamanders require grasslands and loose, sandy soil for burrowing. This attribute is unique among the group of closely related salamanders to which they belong. The tiger salamander breeding pond is usually a shallow, grassy depression filled temporarily by winter rains, but it sometimes makes use of ditches and cattle ponds. It is important that the pool dries out in the summer, to prevent predators from taking residence. If the ancestral pond becomes shaded by trees, the tiger will abandon it.
We have lost a high percentage of our grasslands in the southeast due to development, conversion to agriculture, and fire suppression. Like most of Alabama’s imperiled wildlife, the species was probably once more common than it is today, suffering from this loss of habitat. Other grassland species such as quail and gopher tortoises have similarly declined for this reason.
Finding a tiger in the wild is a rare treasure. Be on the lookout for them crossing rural roads during warm, rainy winter nights. If you are fortunate enough to come across one, we would love to hear about it! Contact our nongame wildlife program to report the sighting.
To find out more about tiger salamanders, check out our watchable wildlife website. Learn More HERE
Photo Credit for featured image/Scott Gravette
Media Release/Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
